Development of a urethane-based plant growth substrate for hydroponic greenhouse vegetable production.

摘要

In 2002, the University of Guelph, in collaboration with a company in Ontario, Canada began to develop a urethane-based plant growth substrate (UBS) designed specifically as an alternative for rockwool (RW) in hydroponic greenhouse production. One of the advantages that this new UBS has over previous foam substrates is that it was manufactured with the intent of optimizing plant production in a hydroponic system instead of being reclaimed foam from industrial waste products (Wees and Donnelly, 1992).; Between 2002 and 2005, experiments were conducted at the University of Guelph to provide recommendations (e.g. physical and chemical property specifications) to the company for improving the growth substrate. Management and irrigation protocols were also developed for the substrate. Four different generations of UBS were evaluated over this three-year period. At the end of each phase of testing, recommendations were provided to the manufacturer with respect to improving the physical and chemical properties. Plant growth experiments using the final generation of the substrate showed no significant differences between cucumber plants grown in UBS Generation 4 (UBSG4) compared to plants grown in RW with respect to measured growth parameters under appropriate irrigation management.